Some Days You Long for Michael Dukakis

There is no politician about whom I have written for a longer time than Michael Dukakis, and there are very few whom I like more, either, and that's full in the knowledge that, in 1988, Dukakis ran the 1962 New York Mets of presidential campaigns. There is a wonderful eccentricity in him that you can miss if you simply dismiss him as a relic of bygone policy wonkery. Nobody has more faith in all the aspects of building a political commonwealth, large and small, than does the man who took public transportation to work every day, who loves trains more than anyone has since Jay Gould died, and who regularly would pick up loose trash off his neighborhood sidewalks.

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Now, this year, my son and his wife did the Thanksgiving hosting duties. There is an upside to this in that it limits Thanksgiving aggravation only to the obvious incompetence of NFL referees. The downside is that you don't wake up the next morning to the delicious smell of the turkey carcass boiling down to make thick, wonderful meat soup. Apparently, Dukakis feels much the same way.

The post-holiday poultry arrived after Dukakis, via The Boston Globe, invited folks to leave their holiday dinner remains behind at his place. Dukakis even provided his home address. "A turkey carcass will yield a lot of soup," the 82-year-old ex-Democratic presidential hopeful told the paper. "I'm collecting if you know anybody." The Globe then told everybody in its audience about the Dukakis Thanksgiving recycling program. "Throwing out a turkey carcass is sinful," Dukakis declared. "Absolutely sinful. It's a terrible thing to do. There's so much richness and goodness in a turkey carcass. God."